JUNEAU, Alaska, Nov. 24, 2014—Why be just one of the crowd at a huge, impersonal shopping mall on Black Friday when you could be meeting two hippie chicks on Main Street the Saturday after?
So asked Denny DeWitt, Alaska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s voice of small business, after looking over a representative sample of the types of Alaska Main Street enterprises that took advantage of NFIB’s free offer to post information about their shops for Small Business Saturday on November 29.
“I’m delighted to report that NFIB’s joint campaign with American Express to get consumers to reserve some of their holiday shopping time and dollars for Main Street is succeeding,” said DeWitt. “I expect awareness of the special day to top 75 percent and sales at local, independent firms to exceed the $5.7 billion after last year’s Small Business Saturday.
“More important than the dollar amounts, however, is the educational delight I guarantee Alaskans will get in learning the infinite variety of goods and services on offer right on the Main Streets of their very own communities. In looking over our list, we have businesses cutting curls, sharpening knives, shaping suits and caring for loved ones. But what stood out for me was the opportunity to meet Two Hippie Chicks offering ‘groovy gifts for the hippie in all of us.’ How can you not be charmed by that?”
Amex also offered small businesses to advertise their wares on its website. Alaska, mom-and-pop firms signing up for NFIB’s offer included:
- Anchorage—Midnight Sun Home Care
- Fairbanks—Mark Knapp Custom Knives at the Cutting Edge
- Jonesboro—Supertints
- Ketchikan—Two Hippie Chicks
- Kodiak—Kodiak Island Smokehouse
- Seward—Final Frontier Clothing
- Soldotna—LEMAY Associates; Kenai Diesel & Marine
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
